Incredibly Uneven...

Rating: 7/10 (10 March 2005)

In some respects, I found this movie to be highly frustrating. There are a couple of stunningly beautiful scenes in this movie (such as the stormy-piano scene) and the duel between Jelly Roll Morton and 1900 is great. Tim Roth plays his character with pathos and charm, and whenever he has a speaking part, he dominates the screen (particularly notable is the discussion he and Max have near the end of the movie). Finally, the piano music is just wonderful, start to finish.
But, some of this movie is highly clichÃ©d, particularly some of the dialog -- which is surprising, considering just how philosophical and wonderful some of the other dialog is. There are some pretty gaping plot holes (and I don't consider myself to be a plothole-seeking pedant by any stretch of the imagination...they're just really hard to miss). And honestly, the acting by pretty much everyone *but* Tim Roth is pretty mediocre.
What to say? It's hard to reconcile all this. This is both of one the most beautiful and most irritating films I've seen in a long time. I give it an 7/10 because the beautiful parts are so beautiful, but I could easily have given it a 4/10 because the flawed parts are so flawed. It's no Cinema Paradiso, but I'd say it's worth watching in spite of its flaws.